Big boys don't cry
by Exotic Rooftile
Summary: Wes gets into trouble for a loose comment at school, which provokes a train of thought into the women in his father's life.


A/N: Not sure where this came from, it just did. Please don't criticise me for the language being all childish. It was intentional, as Wes is opnly supposed to be 8 here! And the mention of love - well, I have an eight year old sister, and whilst love means one thing to me (all grown up with my 15 years), she has a far more simplistic idea of it. Enjoy, raise your eyebrows, look confused, whatever, just read and review

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.

Wesley Carter stood inside the headmaster's office, staring unblinkingly at the rough fibres of the not-quite-carpet. His partner in crime stood to his right, doing exactly the same. Both boys were supposed to be listening to the sermon they were being preached, but Wes found his mind drifting. Schooling his face to suitably repentant, he thought back to the injustices of the incident.

He had been playing cops and robbers at lunch, when one boy (Mark, a cop) had tripped over and upon seeing the amount of blood pouring from his knee, promptly burst into tears. Wes searched his mind for what to say, and decided on what his dad said to him when he was upset – 'big boys don't cry'. Only, when daddy said it, Wes knew he meant that Wes was a big boy and so should try to smile because he was all grown up. Mark didn't quite understand this thought Wes, as it did nothing to stem the floods. What did seem to help was when his older sister came over and hugged him.

Unfortunately, Luke, a fellow robber with Wes had decided to but in with 'And they don't get comforted by girls either'. The furious sister had gone straight to report the pair of them, which Wes thought was a bit mean, when he had only been trying to help.

Suddenly the headmaster changed tack, bringing Wes back to the present.

'Boys don't cry? Of course they do. Luke, you've seen your dad cry, haven't you?'

'Yeah…'

'Well then. And Wes, you've seen girls help to comfort men, say your dad, haven't you?'

Wes thought about this. There were definitely at least four women who had helped to make daddy feel better. First, there was mummy. For as long as Wes could remember, and he supposed even before then, mummy had always been there when anyone, especially daddy needed a hug. Mummy was the only person Wes knew who could always make daddy smile, no matter what. When his Granny had died, mummy had been really sad too, but she had still given daddy a hug. Wes had asked about this once, since he never saw daddy hug mummy about Granny, but mummy had said that that was O.K. because daddy was sadder.

After mummy, there was Jenny. Jenny came after mummy died. Jenny was the next person that Wes knew that could make daddy happy, even if Wes did see him stop smiling when she went out of the room. Jenny was also the _only_ person that Wes had ever met that always made sure the milk was in date – even mummy used to forget sometimes. Overall though. Jenny was like the hug you got if you trapped your finger, Wes thought – nice, but not of any practical use.

For a while there had been Auntie Ruth. She was nice and caring, and always turned up when daddy needed her, but suddenly she stopped coming. When Wes asked – he was always asking questions, daddy said, he was told that she had died. That had made Wes sad, but he liked to remember her nice smell and her warm, cuddly clothes. She was so calm, she never got angry, and helped daddy to think about things before he did something silly – like put the milk back in the cupboard and the coffee tin in the fridge.

Finally, and most recently there had been Zaf. Wes wasn't sure if he should count Zaf as a woman, since he was obviously technically male, but he did the cooking and ironing now. So Wes was going to class him as a woman. As far as daddy was concerned, Wes thought that Zaf was the new mummy. Zaf had moved in a while back, and kept all his stuff in mummy's wardrobe. Zaf was always around, and had even started picking Wes up from school some days. Wes thought that Zaf would be a bit cross that Wes had got himself into trouble, but Wes would ask Zaf to help him with his homework, and then everything would be better.

Wes thought that daddy might love Zaf, and he had definitely seen Zaf looking at daddy with the same look mummy and to some extent Jenny had had. Zaf was now using mummy's side of the bed, but that was not unusual. Before mummy had died, when she used to go away with work, Zaf used to come and sleep there sometimes. Zaf definitely made daddy happy, especially when he was upset.

'Yes sir', Wes finally said. 'Lots of women'

'So boys' began the headmaster, before pausing for effect. 'I want you both to go and apologise to Mark and his sister, Lucy. We will say no more of this, but I don't want to hear about it again, understand?'

'Yes sir' chorused the boys, both itching to escape the prison of the office.

'Then go, before you are both late for lessons.' Wes turned and reached for the door, as quickly as was possible without actually running.

He couldn't wait to finish school and see the fourth woman of his dad's life again.


End file.
